One third of UFC 92's 14,166 attendees were issued complimentary tickets

“UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008″ narrowly missed official sold-out status by drawing 14,166 spectators out of a possible 14,823 spots.

The figure was slightly higher than 14,103 attendance figure Dana White announced after UFC 92, which took place Dec. 27 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

However, of the 14,166 attendees, a total 4,465 – nearly a third of the overall crowd – were issued complimentary tickets, according to an email today sent to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer.

Only 9,701 were paid attendees.

However, despite a lower-than-usual percentage of paid attendees, UFC 92 still garnered a live gate of $3,468,440 – just two days after Christmas. It was the fifth-highest gate total among the 12 events that have been held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the UFC’s 15-year history.

UFC 92 was one of the year’s deepest UFC cards with three main-event-worthy fights on the pay-per-view broadcast. In the night’s main event, Rashad Evans scored a third-round TKO of Forrest Griffin to take the UFC light heavyweight championship. Additionally, Frank Mir upset Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim heavyweight belt, and Quinton Jackson viciously knocked out Wanderlei Silva in a light-heavyweight bout.

Last month, UFC 91, which featured a main event between then-UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture and new champ Brock Lesnar, drew 14,272 attendees (10,845 paid) for a live gate of $4.82 million.

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